Archives for 2022

Hey Darlin’,
Slept late this morning after taking hours to get to sleep last night for some reason, did my chores and fed Lola, then headed over to the local country club for lunch with two of my brothers and my sister-in-law, then a quick trip over to Glenn’s house for instructions on taking care of his pool and his lawn, something I agreed to do when they head back to Texas next week. Got back to camp, and continued my day off, which was my plan for today, binge-watching nearly an entire season of the Great British Baking Show (okay, I’m hooked!), except for the finale, when I just ran out of time. Did a load of laundry, but that was the extent of my energy today, as I’m planning on a busy week next week getting back out into the field and doing more post painting, in weather that looks extremely hot and humid, so I need to start as early as possible. So good night, sweetie! Love you!

Hi Sweetie,
Didn’t have a very good night sleep, and still got up fairly early. After breakfast and chores, I decided I needed to stay in camp because there was a Celebration of Life for someone who apparently rode these trails when it was still a cattle ranch, and I wanted to be nearby in case anybody needed anything. So I decided to make it a painting day, when I painted a bunch of posts that won’t actually have intersection numbers on them, but that I’ve decided need to be installed to help keep people on the right track. That kept me busy for most of the morning. Then I had a fairly quiet afternoon and evening reading and binge-watching my latest obsession, The Great British Baking Show. Just finished off a season, now I’m ready for shower and bed, so good night, babe! Love you!

Hi Babe,
What a day of ups and downs! Arrived at the car rental place around 9:30, got checked out, then had a pleasant drive out to the truck repair place, where I wrote one of the biggest checks I’ve ever had to write in my life, much less for a vehicle repair. Good news, the truck is running fine, hope that lasts! I still had the old oil from my tractor hydraulic oil change in the back of the truck, and today is the only day in a month they take hazardous wastes at a drop off point in Indiantown, so I stopped and dumped that. I was hoping to bring back some of the old gasoline from the Buick later today, but they don’t take gas on the truck, that I have to haul to their main site in Port St. Lucie, unfortunately. Got back to camp, first thing I did was hook up the trailer and move it forward a foot or so, just enough to get the tires about a quarter of the way around, so they don’t develop a flat spot from sitting so long. Then I dropped the bush hog off the tractor and tried to put the auger on but couldn’t manage it. James came by later and put it on for me while I was running back into Indiantown again to pick up a package that had just arrived, with a siphon I was hoping to use to get the gas out of the Buick. What a disaster that turned out to be! The guy at the parts store had told me about this “magic” siphon, where you put your thumb on one end and shake it, and it draws the fuel up and out until the siphon effect takes over. Well, I bought one, and quickly discover that he had it backward, the copper end has to go in the tank and get pulled up and down. Well the minute I did that the dang thing got stuck, and when I tried to pull it out again, the whole copper fitting came off and fell into my tank! I have no idea how I’m going to get it out of there now! Total waste! So then I decided to try to loosen up one of the fuel lines so I could maybe put the power on and have the fuel pump push the fuel out so I could capture it, and when I tried to do that, I think I’ve completely bent one of the components that looks like a bolt, but evidently isn’t, because now it seems to be out of round and I can’t even put it back together again. Making things worse! Now I don’t know what I’m going to do. Grrr! Rough day all around. There’s a big equestrian event here tomorrow, so I’ll probably stick around camp, or maybe take a ride, or maybe I’ll try to drain the tank at the fuel filter, which needs replacing anyway, though I was hoping to run some fresh gas through the system before I changed it. All moot until I fix the fuel rail. Anyway, settled down for the evening, though I’m not feeling very relaxed after today! Heading to bed soon, so good night, my darlin’! Love you!

Hi Sweetie,
Not the best night sleep, and after chores and breakfast, I ran into town to pick up some things, not the least of which was the parts for the Buick. Once I got back to camp I started putting the ignition coil and the ignition module together, and just as I was putting it back on the car it started to rain, so I had to quit for awhile. I worked on a few things inside, then when the rain stopped I went back out and finished the job, including new spark plug wires. Unfortunately, even after all that, the car wouldn’t start. More convinced than ever that it is, in fact, bad gas. Jeff said it would smell like varnish if it’s gone bad, and that’s what it seems to smell like now, so I’ll have to drain the gas and put fresh gas in. Apparently this ethanol gas only lasts a few months, much less two years, something I will take into consideration when I park the car next year, assuming I can even get it running this year. Anyway, that was disappointing. Good news is, my truck is fixed, bad news is the cost. Everything I made in Vegas last month, which was supposed to supplement my income for 6-8 months, is all going into this truck repair. Good thing I have another job scheduled in October, or I’d really be in a mess! Even if I get the Buick running, I”m going to need to put some tires on it, more expense! Grrr! Well, anyway, at least I’ll have a working truck, hopefully, for a long, long time! I also did a repair on the tractor, I had noticed there were two bolts missing on the front end loader, so I picked up a couple of bolts and installed those today. Also made Lola some satin balls and me some homemade hummus, so I did a lot of puttering today. I was planning on going out and painting some more markers tomorrow, but now I have to go pick up my truck. I’ve arranged for someone from the shop to pick me up from the car rental place, so at least I won’t have to bug my brothers about it. Anyway, it’s been a long, busy day. Good night, honey! Love you!

Hey Babe!
Happy Birthday to me, though it was a pretty ordinary day. Was out on the trail by a bit after 8:00 on the tractor, doing more final painting on posts. Got another ten plus post done, so making some progress. Would have kept going but I was getting low on fuel and didn’t want to take any changes. Going to need some tomorrow to keep going. My parts for the Buick finally all came in, but the post office closes early on Wednesday so I didn’t have time to pick them up. Took my shower this afternoon, watched some “birthday” oriented movies for the afternoon, and relaxed the rest of the afternoon. Family planning on getting together on Sunday, wanted to go to the historic Seminole Inn, but they’ve closed down for the weekend, so we’ll just go to the country club instead. Quiet evening, ready for bed! Good night, my darlin’! Love you!

Hi Darlin’,
Had a good night sleep, and slept in a little, so I got a late start, but once I got everything organized, I headed out to start painting the final numbers on the posts that are already in place. Got out just after 10:00, didn’t get back until almost 4:00, got a lot of posts painted! After a hot day, it finally started to cloud up, and I got a little wet towards the end, not soaked, I was just on the fringes, but just enough to cool down a bit. By the time I got to the last post, though, it had just about quit, which was perfect timing! Got back, took a shower, then headed to Jeff’s to pick up my new voter registration card, then headed to the polls for the primary election being held today, then straight back to camp to settle down for the evening after a very physical and exhausting day. Looking forward to hitting the sack soon! Good night, sweetie! Love you!

Hi Sweetie,
Took a long time to get to sleep last night, as usual after a lazy day, but woke up at the right time. After chores and a quick breakfast, I headed out to finish off a few sections of mowing that I missed, plus the new red trail I found the other day. Only took me about two hours, so no big deal. Emptied all my stuff out of the rental car, did a little computer work, then headed out to the rental car place to turn my car in. On the way, I got a call from the mechanic, he’s located another problem, another major part that needs replacing.This job is going to end up being extremely expensive! Ordered the part, but it has to come from California, so it will be late in the week by the time he gets it, may not even be able to get it on Friday, may be another week! Better not have any more repairs on this truck for another five years! I extended my rental car until Friday, hoping maybe I can get the Buick running, but I think it will take a little time for me to trust it for any distance again. Not to mention that even if I get it running, it will probably need new tires, another expense. And the stock market plummeted again today, so I lost money there as well. Not a good start to the week! Meanwhile, I had arranged for Jeff to meet me there so he could drive me to the mechanic, and since that changed, we just headed to a late lunch, early dinner instead. Went to a place called Charley’s which I’ve passed a bunch of times but had never been in, had a Monday Burger special going on, and Guinness on tap! Splurged and had two of those. Got back to camp around 5:00, settled down for the evening. Ready for a quick shower and bed! Good night, baby! Love you!

Hey Babe,
As promised, I had a very lazy day today. Woke up at the usual time but laid in for a couple of hours reading, so horses had a late breakfast. Finished my book off, did one load of laundry, watched a couple of movies, and otherwise just had a much needed lazy day of nothing. A lovely break! Should be raring to go tomorrow, which is likely to be a very busy day! Good night, my darlin’! Love you!

Hey Darlin’,
Getting used to getting up between 7:00 and 7:30 these days, fed the horses, then immediately brought Flash over and saddled him up. Grabbed a quick breakfast, then headed out just after 8:00. I wanted to check out a couple of trails to see if I can get the tractor in them, yes on two and no on one, so as long as we don’t have too much rain in the near future, I’ll be doing just a bit more mowing in some spots. You won’t believe this, but I found another section on the red trail that I’ve never been on or even noticed before! It’s a cutoff of sorts, takes out a corner, but it’s nice and shady, so I’m going to have to map it and mow it and put markers on the intersections now. Read and relaxed for a bit, then eventually headed over to Jeff’s for Karl’s last full day, they were working on his big Dodge and doing a few other mechanical things which I watched for a bit, then got into my bathing suit and Lola and I took a swim for awhile. We still had stuff left from the party last weekend, so we cooked some burgers and finished off a few things. I finally left around 7:30 to get back to camp before dark, a beautiful sky as I was driving in. Did my rounds, then settled down for the evening, though I’m pretty ready to go to bed early! Feel like it’s been a long, busy and strenuous week for some reason, so I’m planning on taking the day off completely tomorrow. Good night, my sweet! Love you!

Hi Sweetie,
Had a good night sleep, then after chores and breakfast I ran down to the post office to pick up my ignition module for the Buick, drop off the workshop Certificates, and pick up a star screwdriver set, something I’ve needed for a long time and specifically need for this module changeover. Got back to camp and started pulling out the old module, managed to get it out fine, a little tricky, but then discovered I hadn’t done it exactly right, but it didn’t matter, at least I got it out. I was changing the coil over to the module when, despite great care by me because I was aware of the danger, one of the wire blades swung upwards, and I knew that was it. As expected, when I swung it back down into position, the blade broke, making the ignition coil useless, darn it. I called the local NAPA and they told me they had one, so I ran into town, only to discover that they only had TYPE II, which was the wrong one. They could get TYPE I by tomorrow morning, but the price they were asking was about double what I could on Amazon, by a good manufacturer, so I decided to order it through them instead. It’s due to be at the post office on Monday, which is fine, because my other parts for the Buick are arriving there the same day. Meanwhile, the truck needed more parts, wiring harnesses for the injectors, which won’t be here until Monday, so I had to extend my rental car until then. Just as I got back from my second trip to Indiantown, James was just about to come out of the gate as I arrived, so he turned around and came back to spend some time with me. A lot of good news, bad news there. Still don’t know exactly when the plumber will be here to fix the plumbing in the “new” showerhouse, though I’m glad we have good water to the barn now. Budget for the new camp host site is on hold until the new fiscal year, so it looks like I might have to move off the camp host site I’m in now to let the new camp hosts in (still to be hired), until they get around to doing that. He’s promised to at least get me electricity, which will help, and we can work out the rest until they get the site built. Settled down for the evening after he left, watched a movie, then remembered that I had put the horses in a stall while the mowers were here, so I had to go and let them out again. Pretty quiet the rest of the day, so now I’m ready for shower and bed. No campers, first time I think I’ve been alone on a Friday night! Very peaceful! Thinking about taking a ride in the morning, maybe fix a couple of signs while I’m out there. I’ll see how it goes in the morning. Good night, baby! Love you!